@article{10902/36939,
year = {2025},
month = {5},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10902/36939},
abstract = {The electrical installation of a ship includes the generation, transport and distribu tion of the generated electrical energy to the electrical consumers on board. In recent years, there have been many attempts to replace traditional auxiliary generators with renewable energy sources, in particular solar panels, as this is a highly developed technology on land. Accordingly, this paper analyzes the different energy requirements on board a merchant vessel and carries out a feasibility analysis. The feasibility analysis considers technical, economic and legal aspects. Sustainable aspects are analyzed too, due to their importance nowadays. It is verified that the use of solar panels is only technically feasible for a small part of the ship's total consumption, as the area required by the panels to cover the total demand would exceed the available area of the ship. Therefore, the possibility of installing solar panels for the fire detection system only was analyzed. This is a technically and legally feasible solution, but not an economically viable one. However, from a sustainability point of view, which takes into account economic, social and environmental aspects, this proposal is appropriate. This study concludes that, while solar panels are not a viable solution for covering all energy needs on merchant ships, they can be used for specific systems such as the fire detection network or similar small consumers, albeit with economic limitations. These findings provide valuable insights for future research and practical implementations of renewable energy solutions in the maritime sector.},
organization = {This research was partially funded by Project PID2019-105386RA-I00 “Design of a tool for the selection of offshore renewable energy locations and technologies: application to Spanish territorial waters (SEARENEW)”, financed by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion—Agencia Estatal de Investigacion/10.13039/501100011033. This research was also partially funded by Project TED2021-132534B-I00 “Characterization of a software to determine the roadmap of the offshore solar energy in
the Spanish shore (SEASUN)”, financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR.},
publisher = {MDPI},
publisher = {Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2025, 13(5), 991},
title = {Feasibility and limitations of solar energy integration in merchant ships: a case study on fire detection systems},
author = {García Rodríguez, Luis and Castro Santos, Laura and Lamas Galdo, María Isabel},
}